


Discord

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: The Speed of Sound [4]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, and perhaps overcomplicated plans, meddling nine-year-olds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-24
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 22:39:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3226097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, a girl just has to take matters into her own hands.</p>
<p>(an inharmonious combination of musical tones sounded together)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Discord

**Author's Note:**

> The thrilling (well, not really) conclusion to the Speed of Sound series is finally here!
> 
> It involves a great deal of meddling, a plan gone wrong, and weirdly enough some vague spoilers for the Kane Chronicles series.

It was decided (with impressively little talking) that Nico would spend a few days in New Rome, after an incident that he wholeheartedly lied about his involvement in.

Since this was a thinly veiled punishment, he was sent westward about an hour before Jason was set to head back east. His services as an errand boy/direction follower had been offered to Reyna (as Annabeth had decided that she was the best option: liked him well enough not to abuse the privilege, liked rules well enough not to let him off easy), who had accepted with a slightly evil grin.

He wasn’t allowed to bring Aisling with him, which was for the best, because she didn’t want to go.

(Will didn’t really trust that Nico wouldn’t sneak off in the night and put rocks in his pillow or thumbtacks in his slippers or something anyway. What Will did not know was that _last time_ really truly wasn’t even Nico.)

So with Will and Abby at school and Nico in California, Aisling had the camp (relatively speaking) to herself. No angry shouting – that she had to be concerned about, at least – or stupid brothers for her to worry about.

It was certainly better than the last weekend had been, but –

“Ashie Day, you look _miserable_.”

“Shut up, Roz, you’re not making her feel any better.”

Aisling smiled. Roz and Harley weren’t always tactful, but they were good friends.

“Where’s Posie?” she asked, because she didn’t have the energy or the words to talk about her stupid brothers.

“Grounded,” Harley and Roz answered in unison.

“Gods, again?” said Aisling. “I can’t decide if she genuinely causes more trouble than the rest of us or if her sisters are just really attached to the word ‘grounded.’”

“I wouldn’t rule that out,” Harley said, frowning.

“Aaaash,” Roz said, poking her with the non-pointy end of her spear. “You’re de-flect-ing.” She punctuated each syllable with a jab.

“ _Stop it_ , Roz!” Harley chided, pulling the spear out of her hands.

“M’not miserable, Roz,” said Aisling. She let Harley pull her to her feet. “I’m just – Hey, would you guys help me with something?”

\--

It took almost a month to put The Plan into action.

Three-and-a-half weeks, every year-round Camper under 12, four Campers _over_ 12, an entire case of Girl Scout cookies (a bribe), one satyr, and three House of Life magicians.

The Plan started like this:

 

“Uh, Nico?”

“What’s – oh for the love of Persephone, _you_ approached _me!_ ”

Reagan (of the Iris Cabin, and a distant enough friend of Ash’s that they’d decided Nico probably wouldn’t know them) blushed. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Nico said, crouching down so their eye-levels matched up. “What’s up?”

“Annabeth said that you’re s’posed to go to Athena cabin,” Reagan reported.

“Did she say why?” prodded Nico.

“No.”

“Could you take a _guess_?”

Reagan frowned. “If I had to guess, which I’m not sure if I ought to, she’s gonna brief you so you can be a chaperone on the next Junior Camper Field Trip.”

“Junior Camper field trip?” Nico repeated.

“Yeah. We’re going to the aquarium!”

“And somebody thought _I_ would be a good choice to chaperone that?” Nico asked sceptically.

“I said it was a guess.”

(It was not a guess. It was a setup.)

“Fair enough.”

\--

“Abby? Abby!”

“Piper, hi. I can’t talk long, my English teacher will think I’m trying to escape again if I don’t come back soon. Is the plan a go?”

“Yeah, we – wait, what?”

“It was an emergency, but he – never mind. So, Operation: Fix Everything In Time For Will To Take Nico To Prom is all ready? I can kick my part into action?”

“Yes, you’re good to go. But I don’t think we’re calling it that, that’s ridiculous.”

“Eh. Whatever. Oh, crap, I’ve got to go. Keep me informed!”

\--

Though apparently inadvisable, the aquarium trip was the perfect field trip for Nico to chaperone.

For one, they were going to the aquarium where Percy worked part time. Which is to say, they were going to a public space that had already been warded to high heaven. And for another, his co-chaperone was Annabeth, who all of the JCs respected and listened to even on bad days. And she was in on the plan, too, which had the kids on even better behaviour, since she was in charge of execution.

Not that Nico knew that part.

“Alright, kiddos! We’ve got tickets for the aquarium show at 10:30, so we’re heading there first,” she announced.

“Woohoo!” Rosalind exclaimed.

“Dolphins!” Harley cheered.

“Whales!” added Posie.

“And Kevin the Sea Lion!” Aisling finished.

“And Percy,” Annabeth reminded them.

“And Percy!” Reagan repeated.

They paraded through the aquarium, led by Annabeth and shepherded by Nico.

\--

“Hey, Billy –“

“Go _away_.”

Contrarily, Abby flopped into the chair across from Will’s. “You know, I was coming over here to say I felt like we’d sort of disconnected. I’m starting to remember why.”

“Abby, I have a math test this afternoon,” Will said. “ _Please_ go away.”

“No you don’t, liar pants,” Abby accused. “We’re in the same math class.”

“Oh.”

“Dude, why are you acting like this still?” asked Abby. “And to me, of all people?”

“Because you’re here, and because everything’s still weird at Camp,” Will said, shrugging. “I’ve accepted that I’ve royally fucked up my relationships there, but that doesn’t mean I have to be chipper about it.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I have reliable reports that Nico’s still grumbling through life as well.”

“It really doesn’t,” Will replied. “But, uh, thanks for trying.”

“That’s what sisters are for,” Abby said with a grin. “Oh, hey, speaking of sisters –“

“Don’t even start.”

“Aisling misses you.”

Will dropped his head onto his book. “ _Aisling_ has a fury-to-height ratio nearly three times the average for someone her age. And she’s mad at me.”

“You just made that up,” said Abby. “And she feels betrayed, not angry.”

“Semantics,” Will informed his anatomy textbook.

“It’s an important distinction, Billy.”

\--

The explosion was _mostly_ pyrotechnics, illusion, luck, and penguins.

The fire was not; it was approximately then that the plan began to fall apart.

Percy grabbed every child that he could find and got them out the emergency door. Only when they were outside did he stop to check who he’d been herding: five children, only three of whom were half-bloods, plus Nico.

“You two,” he said to the others, “are you here with your parents?”

“I am,” said the little girl.

“Alright, we’ll keep an eye out. I’m sure they’re looking for you,” replied Percy.

The boy, who was probably closer to 13 or 14, said, “I’m here with Jaz and them.”

“Oh. Then go hang out with the JCs, I guess. And don’t cause too much trouble. I’m gonna help this little lady find her parents.”

\--

Jaz had walked out of the smoky building supporting Annabeth, and followed by one more young half-blood.

Which, once they’d found the others, meant that the final count was:

  1.      Percy
  2.      Nico
  3.      Felix
  4.      Reagan
  5.      Posie
  6.      Harley
  7.      Annabeth
  8.      Jaz
  9.      Rosalind



Which was great and all, only when phase two started they’d been a party of _eleven_.

Jaz could only hope that, wherever they were, Walt and Aisling were together.

“Where’s Shadow?” Nico said, looking around.

“We thought she was with you,” answered Annabeth, concerned.

Jaz’s phone beeped. She checked it, subtly.

_(1 new text from:)_

**_ACTUAL GOD WALTER STONE_ **

_ABD with us._

_Plan B is go._

Jaz forwarded this message to Abby, then tucked her cell back into her pocket. “Well once the fire fighters clear the building, if we don’t see her, we’ll start a search.”

They didn’t see her.

\--

_“William Solace and Abigail Hill, please report to the office.”_

“Dude, what’d you do?” Will’s lab partner asked.

“Nothing,” replied Will, shrugging. “I never cause enough trouble to get pulled out of class, but – oh, no.”

Will, having suddenly realised what a summons to the office was likely to mean, grabbed his backpack and ran out of the classroom.

“Will!” Abby called, catching up with him in the hallway. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“Something at Camp, I’m almost certain.”

Abby cursed creatively the rest of the way to the office. This, at the very least, gave Will a nice distraction, as he was then forced to spend their journey trying to convince her to keep the volume down.

Gleeson Hedge was waiting for them in the office, looking grim.

“What happened?”

\--

“You _lost her?”_

“I’m sorry, I was a little busy saving whoever I could grab, and I don’t think –“

“Both of you need to stop, okay?” Jaz interrupted. “Will, you weren’t there. It was chaotic, and we were separated.”

Will rounded on Jaz. “What were you even doing here in the first place?”

“Supervising Felix,” she replied, gesturing to the penguin t-shirt wearing 14-year-old. He waved. “We bring him by to visit the penguin he donated last year once a month, but we’re not allowed to leave him unsupervised.”

“It was _one time!_ ” Felix complained.

“The police were called, Felix!”

“It wasn’t –“ Rosalind elbowed Felix’s ribs.

“Guys, focus,” Annabeth said firmly. “She can’t have gone far. Maybe she was just pulled outside with a different group, like the little girl Percy found.”

“Wouldn’t she have come looking for us?” asked Percy.

“She could be hurt,” Harley suggested nervously.

“How about Will and Nico stay here and search the area, and the rest of us can split up and, like, check local hospitals and clinics?” Jaz advised.

“We really shouldn’t,” Nico said. “Work together, that is. I’m all for splitting up just –“

“Not with him,” Will agreed, eyeing Nico warily.

“Nope, sorry. Quite frankly, you’re the most likely to find her; she probably hasn’t gone far,” Annabeth said firmly. “She’s probably pretty freaked out, and she likes you two best. So you’re searching the area.”

Annabeth’s tone left no room for argument. Hedge took the kiddies back to Camp, their job done.

Abby, Annabeth, Percy, and Jaz ‘paired off’ and left.

They met up again at a pizza place eight blocks away.

“Do you think this is going to work?” Abby asked, checking her phone for the third time in ten minutes.

“Well it’s a little late to call it off,” Percy pointed out.

“If anything’s gonna work, it’ll be this.”

\--

“Hey, uh, Nico?”

_“What?”_

“Woah, woah – don’t snap at me, I’m trying to apologise.”

“Is now really the time, Will?”

“No. But since we haven’t exactly seen much of each other lately –“

“Point taken.”

\--

Walt checked his watch. “Do you want to go check in on them?”

Aisling sighed. “Yeah, might as well.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Anubis inquired. “I wouldn’t want your brothers coming after us. It might cause some problems, for which I imagine that I – we -would take the fall.”

Aisling laughed. “Yes, gods, I’m fine. I just bumped my head a little bit.”

“Which could have caused a concussion,” Walt pointed out. “He just doesn’t want to start an inter-pantheon conflict.”

“No concussions, Walt, I promise Let’s go see how my brothers are doing.”

Walt scooped her up from the tombstone on which she’d been perched. “Let’s.”

\--

Aisling had made sure, once they spotted Will and Nico from a distance, that Walt was well-hidden before starting to cry loudly to draw their attention.

“Ash?” Will called.

“Shadow, is that you?” added Nico.

“W-will?” Aisling replied. “Nico?”

The boys rushed to her.

“Oh, Aisling, we were so worried,” said Will, picking her up and scanning her for visible injuries.

“Where did you go?” Nico asked.

“I musta gone out a different door than you guys,” Aisling sobbed. “An’ I couldn’t find _anybody_.”

“Why didn’t you call for us?”

Aisling sniffled. _Time for the test_. “I wasn’t sure you’d want to find me. ‘C –cause you’ve been s-so –“ she burst into tears again.

“Oh, Ash,” whispered Nico. He hugged them, smushing Aisling between himself and Will.

“We’re sorry,” Will muttered. “We’ve been jerks. To you, and to each other.”

“We’ll work on it,” agreed Nico. “We swear. _Without_ shouting.”

“Good,” said Aisling.

Behind Will’s back, she gave Walt a thumbs up.

**Author's Note:**

> SO THERE WE ARE  
> A hopeful, but not entirely concrete, finale. I hope you enjoyed the series!


End file.
